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Breaking with Obama administration strategy on defense of the health law, Sen. Bill Nelson has called on the U.S. Senate to approve a “sense of the Congress resolution” seeking a speedy U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act’s constitutionality.

Nelson, speaking this afternoon on the floor of the Senate, said his goal is to avoid years of uncertainty over the law’s fate, a likely scenario with two dozen lawsuits still pending against the act, and appeals filed in three federal courts of appeal.

“It’s going to take another year, year-and-a-half for this to go to the courts of appeals, then to the Supreme Court, and that will take another year, year-and-a-half,” Nelson said. “When the Supreme Court decides, regardless of what we have done here, the Supreme Court is going to discard political and partisan interest.”

Nelson spoke during an impassioned Senate floor fight over a repeal amendment that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tacked on to an airline industry modernization bill.

A procedural vote on the amendment was expected between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. this evening.

Two federal district judges have now ruled that the mandatory insurance provision in the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, with one, Northern Florida district Judge Roger Vinson, saying the entire act is void.

Two other judges have found it does fall within the Commerce Act powers of Congress to require Americans to buy health insurance.

So far, the U.S. Justice Department has said its appeals will be to the lower courts. Some advisors have suggested that the U.S. can win at the appeals court level and avoid a sweeping, precedent setting high court ruling on the limits of the Commerce Clause.

Nelson is facing a tough re-election battle later this year and is being targeted by national conservative groups like FreedomWorks, who are using the health care issue to mobilize conservative voters.
Nelson suggested a precedent-setting decision from the court is now inevitable.

He said a quick Supreme Court decision would enable Congress to move on to the business of improving the Affordable Care Act. Such a decision could come quickly through a procedural step called a Rule 11 writ of certiorari.

“Its passage might prevent people from arguing over this law for the next several years, and everyone in this country who is affected by this law would have an answer,” Nelson said.

Nelson’s office said a vote on the “sense of the Congress” resolution would likely come tonight, immediately after the Senate votes on the McConnell repeal amendment.